Canadian Railroads > Windsor & Hantsport RS-23 Replacements

In the summer of 2005 the Windsor & Hantsport leased 4 former CN GP9RMs from Cando Contracting in Manitoba.  The Nova Scotia shortline was looking to replace their small fleet of ex-CP RS-23s, which they had been using since start-up in the summer of 1994.  Somewhat ironically, all four Geeps were older than the 1960-built MLWs, but two of them could do the work that had previously taken 3 or 4 of the RS-23s, and they continued to work there until early in 2010.

In this scene from September 22, 2005 4014 and another GP9 and leaving Hantsport and crossing the Halfway River aboiteau with a train of 20 empty gypsum hoppers.  The aboiteau malfunctioned some time after the railway ceased operations, and seawater flowed up river, killing trees and field crops.  The railway refused to repair it, even though they had maintained it when they were operating, so the province paid for the work, and then sued them.  The case was recently resolved in the railway's favour..

N.S. government, railway company settle lengthy legal battle over Hantsport aboiteau | CBC News

GTD

 

---

Aboiteau is a new word for my vocabulary.  A dike to permit fresh water but block salt water.
jb

You might describe an aboiteau as a large check valve.

They were employed by Acadian settlers in the 1600s, who originally built the dikes in this area.  An Acadian friend of mine said the word literally translates to "water box". 

Centuries later they became a convenient location for the railway lines.  Back when the CP owned the DAR they did an extensive reconstruction job on this exact same dike and aboiteau, at their own expense, but the WHRC seems to have escaped responsibility.  The company seems to be surviving on fees collected from utilities that cross the RoW.  I very much doubt it will ever operate as a railway again.  Most of it west of Hantsport is a trail, although the bridges are unsafe and barricaded.

GTD